Hey Steve,
Good to hear from you! (You too Leon).
I just received the catalog but and did not have a lot of time to go through it.
Full disclosure: The '53 Yankee ring, the '55 watch are my consignments.
Here are my thoughts: 2009 Yankee rings seemed to have dried up a little - it will be interesting to see if REA can get the numbers they have in past with regards to 2009 rings. There are a lot in the hobby at this point so prices should come down, yet, like I said, we are seeing less of them come to auction as the ones previously sold are sitting in collections.
The 1953 Yankee ring is pretty rare and should do quite well in the REA auction.
The 1955 Dodger watch belonging to Roger Craig and was in decent condition when I acquired it, however, consulting with other collectors, the general consensus was that unlike Baseball cards, which should never be repaired, the watch should be restored to it's beautiful original splendor.
REA fixed the wording in their auction, the dial on the watch was cleaned and re-inked (if that's the correct term), and the watch was lightly polished to eliminate light surface scratches. The engraving on the back is 100% original, and an authentic leather strap from the manufacturer was added.
I am not a big fan of vintage salesman samples as everyone knows, and wonder about many Yankee American League championship salesman ring samples from this time period. I don't see anything wrong with the ring offered in REA.
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